Howdy, all…
Summer has once again reached the Greater Upper Midlands Co-Prosperity Sphere—days are topping out near 100° Fahrenheit, with humidity levels to match. And it’s been buggy—more so than usual. Every week, I have to clean out the screen in the primary water filter stage, and every week I come back inside with at least a dozen bites. Oh, well, it comes with the territory...
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My 40th High School Class reunion is coming up in a few weeks. Somehow, I found myself on the committee, and have been volunteered to organize the volunteers. How that happened, I have no clue—I volunteered my services to be a Facebook moderator, but here I am. I’m not complaining, mind you. Planning for this is much like the planning I have done for any number of scale model shows, so I’m walking familiar ground.
I’m also curious to just how much Ft. Lauderdale has changed since I was last there in 2013. Nothing is allowed to stand still around there, I know…
Speaking of change, the reunion will give me a change to stop by the Embry-Riddle campus for a little while. I’ll be interested to see how much it has changed since 2015, the last time I had time to look around. I think there are now only three structures on campus that were there when I initially moved into what was known then as Dorm 2 (later named McKay Hall, it was bulldozed in 2019) back in August of 1982. Everything else exists only in photos and memories…
The adage “You can’t go home again” echoes in my head. We’ll see just how true it is…
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My experiment with Mission Models Paint is over.
I will say this—I’m sure it is a great product. However, I have done trial runs several times using their exact materials and procedures. In each one, things looked good until I tried to apply a water-slide decal. A few drops of water caused the paint to run, as if it were a watercolor. I have followed their instructions to a “T”. I use their primer, their reducer, their paint, their Poly Intermix, their clear coats. I maintain the recommended pressures and distance from the surface. I let things dry/cure per their instructions. And I get the same result every time. For me, this is too much fussing about.
And yeah, I know guys who have tinkered with adding Future, etc., to the mix and have apparently achieved good results, but recent news out of Johnson and Johnson indicated that Future may not be around much longer. I decided that I have to find a paint that gives near foolproof results without having to chant incantations over the mixing cup every time I use it.
If you recall, this search for new paint has been going on for a while now—since Testors discontinued Acryl. I have tried several paints in the meantime, including Vallejo. Now, once I cracked the code on airbrushing Vallejo, I rather liked it. However, what I have found is that shelf life on bottles that have been partially used is not great—I can go back to a bottle I used tow projects ago, and it is now thick and stringy—and it is a 50/50 chance that some additional thinner can cure the issue. Note that I *never* return thinned paint to the main container—I learned this in my Polly-S days. No, if I have an excess of thinned paint, I save it in a separate bottle or jar.
The other issue with Vallejo is color fidelity. I’m not one of those who waves his Federal Standard fan deck at every paint and criticizes each for the perceived “inaccuracies” they exhibit, but I do want a bottle of paint that claims to match a particular standard to be at least *close* to that color. Vallejo is very much hit and miss in that respect. If I have to mix a paint, I’d like to have one that retains usability for a long time, yields a durable film, and intermiscible with other lines.
I tried Lifecolor on the Fujimi Sea King. I liked the way it behaved so much that I bought the colors I will need on my early Air Superiority Blue-painted F-15A. And it is still in the running for a #2 or #3 tier paint for me. But availability can be spotty, and it has been known to be temperamental.
The British Phantoms reacquainted me with the GSI/Creos Aqueous line. I had used this in the past, and for whatever reason my results were only satisfactory, nothing exemplary about them. Well, I guess 25 years removed, I’ve allowed some things to seep into my head, and found them to be easy to use this time around. I’d love to adopt them as my #1. However, their U.S. importer is BlueFin. Most every reseller of these paints has the colors from H-1 to H-94 or H-96. So what’s the hang-up? The modern colors (modern RAL, BS, and FS colors) are in the H-300 and H-400 range. It seems that BlueFin either cannot or will not import them. Indeed, the only US-based online retailer who even shows the 300 and 400 ranges is Scalehobbyist, and they show them as “Coming Soon”. They’ve shown them as “Coming Soon” for some time now. HobbyLink Japan doesn’t show them. Some of the UK-based shops list them, but again show them as “out of stock”. I contacted GSI/Creos, and they say they still make the colors in question, but don’t even list them on their website…
I looked at the AK Interactive 3rd Gen acrylics and Real Color paint, and may well use some of them. But I’m also looking for something that I might be able to procure locally if I run out—you know, common colors like black, white, red, yellow, etc. We have one shop close that carries some of the 3rd Gen line in the gaming colors. I am not aware of anyone local who carries Real Colors. So…
I’ve finally come back around to Tamiya Acrylics. With the demise of Testors, they seem the likely line to assume the crown. Most hobby shops stock them. They have a wide range of colors. They can be mixed with Tamiya’s new Lacquer Paints, Real Color paints, GSI Aqueous Hobby Colors, and GSI’s Mr. Color line. They can be thinned with water, isopropyl alcohol, or lacquer thinner. These features are what make them the choice of a great many modelers around the world.
The one drawback? Lack of “spec” colors. Even more so than any other line, Tamiya does not offer pre-mixed colors that match any of the standards. But a friend of mine brought up something interesting: Like artists’ colors, Tamiya offers a range of colors that seem to be almost purposefully designed for mixing. Tamiya themselves offer mixing ratios in their kit instructions. And really, mixing colors is not alchemy; it is actually rather easy to do.
There are several Tamiya mixing charts online. One of the issues with this is that there are literally a dozen different places to find mixes, and many of them don’t agree with each other. Now, that’s fine. Different people have different opinions on the “proper” shade of any given color. But wouldn’t it be nice if all these recipes could be found in one place?
Some friends and I are going to try to do just that. Stay tuned.
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The latest iteration of the South Carolina Scale Model Mega Show was held on 18 June. It went well, by most accounts, and the committee will be meeting soon to make some decisions on the next edition. Again, stay tuned.
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One of the Mega Show’s special awards was “Old School”. The eligibility rules were basically this—use any kit you wish, but any added details had to be made from scratch using raw materials (Evergreen styrene sheet and rod, wire, foil, etc.)—no pre-made detail sets could be used.
At about the same time we announced our award, one of the Hyperscale forums started an Old School Group Build (OSGB). The moderator on that forum spelled out a bunch of rules—the kit had to be of a certain vintage, the paints used must have been available “back in the day”, hairy stick application was preferred (as opposed to airbrush), etc. Now, the participants agreed to these rules, and that’s fine. They can call it “Fred” if they want to—they laid out the rules and agreed to hold to them
However, I think there is a bit of confusion between “Old School” and “Nostalgia”. In my mind, the Hyperscale group is hosting a Nostalgia build—each participant builds the same kits as they did back in the day, using the same methods and products.
To me, though, “Old School” modeling is a frame of mind that transcends manufacturers, eras, and products. What we call “old school" today was called “scratchbuilding” back then, and it was the only way to get added details before the advent of photoetched metal, cast metal, cast resin and prefabricated details like wired distributors.
For instance, I offer up my 1/35th scale AFV Club Wiesel 1/TOW. I used Evergreen sheet and wire to cobble up an interior. That’s “old school”. There are—or were—resin interiors made for the kit, using them would take the “old school” aspect away from the project.
I sponsored the Old School award. I wanted to inspire this generation of modelers to realize that not everything needs to be pre-packaged in order to add it to their models. I hope the idea stuck with the folks who participated…
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That’s all I have for this installment. As always, be good to one another. Thanks for reading, and I bid you Peace.
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